Presentation Outline

1. The National Water Quality Monitoring Network forU.S. Coastal Waters and their TributariesPresentation for _______August 28, 2007

2. Presentation Outline • Background • Network Design • Pilot Phase • Network Refinement • Inventory and Gap Analysis

3. Why do we need the Network • 22,000 water bodies are not attaining water quality standards • Widespread nutrient over-enrichment • Oxygen depletion • Loss of sea grass beds • Harmful algal blooms • Toxic contamination and pathogens • Closed beaches and shellfish beds • Fish and shellfish consumption advisories • Habitat alterations • Wetland loss • Invasive species

4. Network Origins • U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy • Chapter 15, Creating a National Monitoring Network • U.S. Ocean Action Plan • Advancing our Understanding of the Oceans, Coasts, and Great Lakes • Create a National Water Quality Monitoring Network

5. Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI)Charged with Network Design • Charge from Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) formally accepted in February, 2005 • ACWI delegated responsibility to National Water Quality Monitoring Council (NWQMC) • Report accepted by ACWI and presented to CEQ and NSTC in April, 2006 • CEQ and ACWI authorize Pilot Phase in January 2007

6. Participant Affiliation 80 Participants in the Design Effort 2% Local Industry Federal 7% 40% State & Tribal 28% Academia 23%

7. Network Presentations • Council on Environmental Quality • National Science and Technology Council: • SWAQ • Ocean Action Plan Oversight Groups: • Joint Subcommittee on Science and Technology (JSOST) • Subcommittee on Integrated Management of Ocean Resources (SIMOR) • Interagency Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Resource Management • Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel • Internal USGS, EPA, and NOAA groups

8. Network Presentations • National Water Quality Monitoring Conference • May, 2006 • Approximately 900 attendees from Federal, Tribal, and State agencies, academia, private sector, volunteer monitoring community • Plenary presentation • 4 special sessions with open dialogue

9. Multi-year Effort • Phase I - Network Design(FY 05 & 06) • Phase II - Develop and carry out Pilot Studies(FY 07 & 08) • Phase III - Demonstration Projects(FY 08& 09) • Phase IV – Implementation; fill gaps and provide necessary enhancements to existing monitoring programs (FY 10 and beyond)

10. Design Features • Links inland, coastal, and ocean monitoring • Comparable and quality-controlled data across regions and resource compartments • Resolution at several scales • Includes targeted and probability based monitoring • Relevant to management issues (National and Regional) • Builds on existing programs • Includes data management and access

11. Network will Address Management Questions • What is the condition of the Nation’s waters? • Where, how, and why are water quality conditions changing over time? • Are strategies to protect water quality working? • Are we meeting water quality goals and standards?

12. Resource Compartments • Estuaries • Near-shore waters • Off-shore waters • Great Lakes • Coastal beaches • Wetlands • Flow and flux from • Streams • Ground water • Atmospheric deposition

13. Constituent Categories • Physical: Flow magnitude and direction, physical habitat, sediments • Chemical: • Inorganic: Water-quality characteristics, major ions, nutrients, metals and metalloids • Organic: Bulk organics, volatile organic compounds, pesticides, halogenated hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, contaminants with new and emerging concerns • Biological: Diversity, toxicity

14. What are the Benefits? • In-depth assessment of the water quality and health of the Nation’s coastal waters • Identify pollution loading patterns • Describe status • Detect change • Data sharing and comparability among agencies • Data made accessible • Quality assurance and quality control plans • Support water resources protection and restoration decisions • Minimize duplicative or ineffective monitoring; improve coordination

15. Monitoring Estuaries

16. Monitoring Near Shore

17. Great Lakes Nearshore and Offshore Sites

18. Proposed Riverine Stations

19. Proposed Riverine Stations – Great Lakes

20. Proposed Riverine Stations Alaska

21. Ground Water • Focus on direct discharge to coastal waters • Local expertise used to determine significance of this source • Where significant, determine flow and loads

22. Network Data Management • Design places major emphasis on storage and access • Built on ACWI’s Water Quality Data Elements for content, metadata • Assumes web services will be the data exchange mechanism

23. The Network Will Not • Provide data on all water resources • Small rivers • Local aquifers • Lakes and Reservoirs • Replace State Clean Water Act Requirements • 305 (b) • 303 (d) • Replace Compliance Monitoring

24. Relevance to Ocean Research Priorities Plan • ORPP Near-term Priority: Forecasting the response of coastal ecosystems to persistent forcing and extreme events • Network will provide: • Consistent, multidisciplinary and multi-media data • Observations of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and processes • Data on flux of material from watersheds and airsheds • Links between environmental observations and public-health issues such as beach closures and fish and shellfish advisories

25. Relevance to IOOS • Integrates watershed, marine, and estuarine elements • Provides information on land-based sources of contamination • Ensures comparable scales of data • Supports effective data management and dissemination • Supports development of Regional Coastal Ocean Observing Systems

26. Efforts Underway in 2007 • Outreach • Agency staff to coordinate implementation • OSTP, NOAA, EPA, USGS • Network refinement workgroups • Further develop selected details of the Design • Nutrients, Contaminants, Wetlands, Beaches, Groundwater, Atmospheric Deposition, Biology, Data Management

27. Efforts Underway in 2007Pilot Studies • Delaware Bay, San Francisco Bay, Lake Michigan • No new Federal funds provided to pilots • Conduct inventory of on-going monitoring • Gap Analysis: compare inventory to design • Identify management issues in pilot areas: • Habitat degradation, fresh-water flows, nutrient enrichment, contaminants, ground-water contribution, beach quality, effects of stressors on biology • Estimate cost of current and needed monitoring

28. Results from Pilot Studies • Presentations at conferences organized by professional organizations • Reports for CEQ • Journals and other technical publications • National Water Quality Monitoring Conference • May 19-22, 2008 • Atlantic City, New Jersey

29. Interagency Coordination and Responsibilities • All work coordinated by Interagency Working Group consisting of NOAA, USGS, and EPA with participation by OSTP • Federal, state, and local agencies and non-governmental partners (approximately 60 organizations) are contributing to the Pilot Phase • Lead Federal agency or agencies: • NOAA: near-shore and off-shore marine waters; estuaries and Great Lakes (joint with EPA) • EPA: wetlands and beaches; estuaries and Great Lakes (joint with NOAA) • USGS: streams and ground water • National Atmospheric Deposition Program-National Trends Network partners: atmospheric deposition • Data Management (EPA, NOAA, USGS, States, other non-Fed)

30. More information • http://acwi.gov/monitoring/network/design